Vladimir Putin attending the opening of deep-water terminla at Rosneft's Tuapse oil refinery. (Image source: Kremlin)Rosneft is the latest oil company to return to Libya and Africa's largest reserves as they sign an exploration and production deal

Moscow-based Rosneft have agreed to invest in exploration and production in Libya, the National Oil Corp of Libya stated on its website on 21 February. In addition, Rosneft have also signed a separate accord to by Libyan crude.

This comes a matter of weeks after Libya had declared itself open for business in a bid to attract more foreign investment and increase its production to 2.1mn bpd by the end of 2020.

“We need the assistance and investment of major international oil companies to reach our production goals and stabilise our economy,” NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said in the statement.

Jadadalla Alaokali, an NOC board member, said last week that Libya’s crude production exceeded 700,000 bpd and is due to reach 1.2mn bpd by August and 1.7 mn by March 2018, when the nation’s ports and export terminals will be operating at full capacity.